In understanding and utilizing the principles and wisdom of The Art of War, it's helpful to think of your success and fulfillment as a journey. It involves moving from where you are currently to where you want to be.

As such, in order to move safely and effectively on this path, you have to know where to look. In studying The Art of War for over twenty years, I've found that there are five metaphorical directions you must look in order to ensure you are progressing along the path of happiness and serenity.

The first direction is forward. Looking forward means understanding your purpose, anticipating the dangers you may face, and keeping focused on advancing. For Sun Tzu, this is characterized by following the Tao, or the Way.

The second direction is upwards. Looking upwards means understanding the values you want to uphold as you walk this path. These values characterize the ideal qualities or outcomes you want to prioritize and maintain as you keep on the path. For Sun Tzu, these values are clarity, readiness, and wholeness. They are governed by the factor of Heaven.

The third direction is downwards. Looking downwards means understanding your situation - the challenges, opportunities, risks - and the principles you need to deal with it. For Sun Tzu, your situation and the principles you face relate to the Ground.

The fourth direction is at your self. Looking at yourself means looking at your virtues, or your internal qualities and strengths - what is going to keep you committed and faithful to the path. For Sun Tzu, this relates to the factor of the General.

The fifth and last direction is sideways. Looking sideways, right and left, tells you how effective you are at moving forward on the path. These are characterized by the three disciplines of calculation, positioning, and timing. For Sun Tzu, these three disciplines make up the Methods.

There is one direction, for Sun Tzu, that you should never look, and that is backwards. For Sun Tzu, once you have set your purpose and are committed to a path, you must see it through. You must go deep and be united.

This is the same in life. Don't look backwards. Don't run away. If the path is worth it, you must try to walk it. 

"One who, prepared, awaits the unprepared will win."
- Sun Tzu

Resilience is a popular term these days. It connotes the ability to withstand or bounce back from tough situations. To keep one's head, one's composure, even in the face of crisis.

While resilience may be an important attribute to have, the Sun Tzu Way is ultimately not a philosophy of resilience. Rather, it is a philosophy of readiness.

Readiness involves the ability not simply to withstand tough situations, but to anticipate them - and to use them essentially to determine one's response.

For Sun Tzu, this quality is crucial in war. It is not enough for an army simply to bounce back from a bad situation. To keep its head when times are tough. That may keep the army in the fight, but it is not enough to secure its victory.

Rather, the army, led by a wise general, must be prepared to respond in all types of situations. This is why Sun Tzu details so many different scenarios in The Art of War -  from easy situations where the army has a clear advantage to vague situations where it is difficult to get a read on what's going on to seemingly dangerous situations where it seems like there is no option but to fight, even to death.

It is through understanding these different possibilities and knowing how and when to respond that the army is ready to use every situation as a means to secure total victory (quan sheng). 

In life, the same idea is true. Being resilient is not enough for you to achieve a sense of security (an). It's not enough to able to withstand or bounce back from a bad situation. You must learn to anticipate danger or risk, to prepare for it, to know how to respond a situation so that you end up in a better place than before.

It's not just about keeping your head; it's about using it to get ahead. 

We've talked before about the importance of purpose as a fundamental principle of the Sun Tzu Way. Purpose - or what Sun Tzu calls Tao, or the Way - is about understanding and articulating your aspirations, values, and priorities - what you want to achieve and why. It sets the path (or Way) forward, and is essential in developing unity and focus.

But in truth, purpose is not a singular concept. According to Gary Gagliardi, a well-known translator of The Art of War and commenter on Sun Tzu's work as it relates to business, there are actually three levels to purpose.

The first, and lowest, level is economic. This is the level of getting the resources needed to survive and maintain a relative state of stability and comfort in one's life.

The second level is professional. This is the level of developing our unique skills and talents, building pride and confidence in ourselves, and gaining recognition, credibility, and success. The idea is to understand and prove what we are capable.

The last level is spiritual. This is the level of improving, impacting, or transforming our lives and the lives of those we care about. This level is the strongest level because it extends beyond yourself. It demonstrates compassion (ren) - your ability to see other people's struggles and your desire to make the world a better place.

In general, the higher your clearest level of purpose is, the more meaningful that purpose is -that is to say, the more enlightening and thus guiding that purpose is. Thus, your professional purpose, if clear, will naturally enlighten and guide your economic purpose, and your spiritual purpose is more meaningful than professional purpose.

All of us operate on the three levels of purpose. The problem is that most people are only clear about level one (economic) or two (professional). Most of us understand that in order to survive and live a decent life, we need to have a consistent job that pays the bills. This is economic purpose.

Some of us who are lucky also understand that having a job that we enjoy and feel pride in involves choosing a career that engages and supports our unique skills, talents, and interests. This is professional purpose.

But it is a rare few of us who have a clear understanding for what change we want to have on others. For how we want to transform a field or industry. For how we want to impact the world. It is this last level that gives us genuine fulfillment in life.

In your own life, think about these three levels. Ask yourself in this order:

1. What is my spiritual purpose? What am I meant to change or improve in the world?
2. Given my spiritual purpose, what is my professional purpose? What skills and capabilities do I need to hone or develop? What career path shall I take and what's required to get on it?
   
3. Given my professional purpose, what is my economic purpose? What quality of life do I want to have for myself? What choices will I need to make to support the career path I need to take?
   

Keep in mind, you may have more than one spiritual purpose, and thus, more than one professional purpose, and more than one economic purpose. For example, your spiritual purposes may be to change the medical industry and be loving partner and caring parent. All three of these require different skill sets (and different education), and may require different economic needs.

The goal, though, is to be clear on these spiritual purposes. It is through clarity on each level that the Way becomes apparent.

 "Therefore, advancing not to seek glory, withdrawing not to avoid shame - but only to protect the people and benefit the ruler - [such a general] is the nation's treasure."
- Sun Tzu

For many people reading The Art of War, they believe that the text is about how to defeat an enemy with deception and trickery - that is, how to play "dirty." For Sun Tzu, however, the cost of warfare - not in simply in terms of money, but in terms of valuable lives of soldiers and citizens - is too high not to use whatever means one can to avoid battle and overcome conflict. As Sun Tzu tells us later, "A destroyed nation cannot return. Those who are dead cannot come back to life."

This is why Sun Tzu believes that only virtuous leaders can effectively use what some may consider "dirty" tactics - deception and espionage - in order to achieve victory. Without a strong sense of purpose (Tao) from the ruler and a strong general (Jiang) whose sole objective is to make sure the nation is protected and secure, the army and the nation will be in grave danger.

In your life, the same principle is true. Your ability to lead yourself is key to maintaining a sense of confidence, peace, security, and happiness - what Sun Tzu calls an. But in order to do this effectively, you need to cultivate key traits, or virtues, that will allow you to make the right decisions at the right time with confidence.

For Sun Tzu, a strong effective leader exhibits five key traits:

1. Wisdom
2. Credibility
3. Compassion
4. Discipline
5. Courage

These five traits are critical. For Sun Tzu, any deficiency in even one of them can lead to disaster. In your own life, this is also the case. Try to advance in life without cultivating these virtues, and you'll find yourself having a difficult life.

Let's take a look at each virtue below, including practices for how you can cultivate each virtue in your own life. (These are practices that I try to incorporate into my own life.)

Wisdom
For Sun Tzu, wisdom (zhi) is essential for making strategic decisions. It involves the ability to know not only what action to take, but when to take action.

In your own life, there are a few ways to cultivate wisdom:

1. Learning from experience. This means analyzing your own experiences as well as the experiences of others. Whenever you deal with a problem or challenge, record how you addressed it. Was it effective? Could you have addressed it better? In addition, talk to or read about other people who have solved similar issues or been through similar challenges. How did they solve it? Would it work for you?
2. Seeking to understand. Try not to dismiss what someone says just because you disagree. Strive to ask questions to delve deeper into that person's thinking. Read or listen to different perspectives on a subject.
3. Admitting ignorance. I try to never assume I am the smartest person in the room. I always assume that the person I'm talking to knows a lot more than I do about something important, and that I can learn from him or her. 

Credibility
For Sun Tzu, credibility (xin) is essential to leading an army. If the soldiers do not trust you, they will not risk their lives for you. As a general, you have to demonstrate that you are trustworthy - that you keep your word.

In your own life, try to follow these three practices in developing credibility:

1. Keeping your word. Try your best to keep promises that you make. Pay attention to your actions, making sure that they align with your words.
2. Be a good confidante. Be someone others can trust with their thoughts and feelings. Resist passing judgment on people, but always give your honest opinion.
3. Speak from experience. No one likes someone who preaches to them. Use "I" statements; tell people how you dealt with something or how you feel, without telling others how you think they should act.

Compassion
For Sun Tzu, the general must have compassion (ren) in order to lead his soldiers and serve as protector of the people. The virtuous general sees the humanity in everyone, including his enemies, which is a very important reason why Sun Tzu values winning without battle. As such, only a compassionate general can use deception, since his ultimate aim is not to destroy the enemy, but to halt his will to fight.

In your own life, to be an effective leader of yourself and others, you need to cultivate compassion for others as well as yourself. The following are a few ways to do this:

1. See All Under Heaven as one family. This is a phrase that comes from Confucius. It means that all of us are imperfect, yet ever-growing beings, deserving of love, support, and understanding. In that way, we are but one family, operating under the same human condition.
2. View your happiness as worth protecting. The general's primary role is not to prove his skill in battle. It's not to destroy the enemy. His role is to protect the people and their interests, their way of life, their Tao. Likewise, you must view your happiness and well-being as worth protecting. You are the general of your life to protect your well-being and secure your growth, because the better you are doing, the better you'll be able to contribute to society at large. This is worth guarding.

Courage
In warfare, it is obvious that courage (yong) is an essential virtue to cultivate. For Sun Tzu, the general must be willing not simply to fight in battle, but to throw his soldiers, for whom he cares as if they were his own children, into harm's way, so that they unite together in defeating the enemy.

You, too, need the courage to take action in the face of uncertainty. If you want to advance your situation and overcome the daily challenges in your life, you need to have the courage to make tough decisions - to have tough conversations. It is not easy, and I am first to admit that this virtue is hard for me. But the following are some practices to help cultivate courage in your own life:

1. Calculating the dangers of not taking action. Most people think about the consequences of taking a certain action. But just as important is considering the consequences of not taking action. What will happen if you decide not to have that difficult, yet critical conversation? What will happen if you decide not to confront someone's toxic behavior?
2. Developing contingency plans and exit strategies. Sun Tzu's general is constantly making calculations, analyzing his situation, making contingency plans, and trying to remove errors. If you are afraid to take action, then one reassurance is knowing that your plan is as strong as it can be. Give yourself a contingency plan in case Plan A doesn't work out. Try always to have an exit strategy so that you know you are protected.
3. Letting go. At a certain point, you must let your decision up to fate. If you are honest, compassionate, and confident, then the odds are on your side that it will end up okay. It is rare that a decision you make, if you are honest and well-intentioned, is irreversible.

Discipline
Discipline (yan), for Sun Tzu, involves having high standards for oneself as well as one's soldiers. A disciplined general ensures the soldiers stay focused on the task at hand and do not cultivate bad thoughts or habits that would distract them from their mission.

In your own life, you will have many things that will distract you from your overall purpose - from social media to news articles to text messages to TV shows. Indeed, you will also develop thoughts that will distract you - self-defeating thoughts such as "I'm a horrible person," "I will never amount to anything," or procrastinating thoughts such as "I can do that tomorrow," or "I'm not ready yet."

Discipline is about staying focused on completing the important tasks that will serve your overall purpose. This doesn't mean you can't have time for fun or entertainment or enjoyment. Rather, it means that important things are put first.

Like courage, discipline is very hard. I struggle with it as well. The following are some ways I try to cultivate discipline:

1. Implementing systems. The best way to keep focused and disciplined is by developing a system that makes doing the task easy and top of mind. For example, I use a task manager that sends me notifications for when I am to complete important tasks.
2. Thinking in terms of progress. Try not to focus on reaching a goal or target. Rather, try to compare your current results to the time before. What you want is better results than before. Focus on improvement, not achievement.
3. Focusing on consistency, not results. Along with #2, you want to focus less on reaching a target or producing a result than on the actual fact that you committed to doing the activity. If you're trying to improve your piano playing, for example, don't focus on playing a piece perfectly. Focus rather on the amount of time you spent practicing the piece, or the number of times you practiced in the week. Practice consistently, and the results will take care of themselves.

Anxiety is unavoidable, especially in our highly competitive, dynamic, and ever-changing world. Just as we feel we've overcome one challenge, a new one arises. Just as we catch up on our work, finish that home project, overcome that obstacle with your child - another problem pops up that needs to be solved.

All of this leads to feeling like nothing in our lives is quite under our control. Like the world is a huge mystery to us. Like we are always pawns in someone else's game, but don't know whose game it is or how even how to play it.

This feeling is the source of the anxiety all of us feel, day to day. It's the reason why we always feel like we are barely able to keep our head above water.

2,500 years ago, Sun Tzu and the warriors of his time also had to deal with constant anxiety. He lived in an extremely chaotic and turbulent period in China, where different states fought for domination in the region by attacking and taking over other states. States that were once powerful would quickly be toppled by another state. You were never quite sure who your allies or enemies were.

Needless to say, this was an anxious period for everyone. It was in this period that Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War. It was written as a tool to help rulers and generals overcome their fears and anxieties of going to war and come out on top. And surprisingly, it is a battle-tested tool that has lasted 2,500 years, guiding military generals, business leaders, politicians, and competitive athletes.

So what does Sun Tzu have to teach about dealing with anxiety? How can we use Sun Tzu's principles to defeat one of our biggest internal enemies and come out on top? The following are four lessons I've taken from The Art of War to help me address anxiety in today's world:

1. Find your high ground. Utilize that practice (walking, exercising, listening to music, etc.) that helps you clear your head and feel calm.
2. Know thy enemy, know thyself. The enemy is not anxiety, which is a natural reaction to uncertain situations. The enemy is our tendency to add on more responsibilities and tasks, big or small, than we can or should handle. This puts us in a state where we can't handle anxiety.
3. Elevate & simplify. Understand your priorities, values, and key things you're responsible for. Try to reduce or eliminate anything that falls outside of these things.
4. Adopt the mindset of the invader. Use your anxious energy to guard against the danger of responsibility creep. Think like an invader: you are in the world to fulfill your purpose, and you won't let anything stop you.

Let's go through each lesson in greater depth.

Lesson 1: Find your high ground
For Sun Tzu, it's important in war to try to occupy a ground that offers you as much visibility as you can get. He calls this the high ground. This puts you in a position where you can see your situation as clearly as possible.

In your own life, the first step to dealing with anxiety is that you need to find your high ground - that mental place that gives you clarity and room to just breathe. This could be done through walking, talking to a friend, journaling, meditating, listening to music, whatever. For me, I find my high ground by walking, talking to myself, or writing down my thoughts.

Doing this alone will not take away your anxiety, but it will help you feel like the world is a little more manageable. It also puts you in a place where you can better analyze and overcome your anxiety.

Lesson 2: Know thy enemy, know thyself
Sun Tzu tells us, "Know the other and know the self, and in one hundred battles, there will be no danger." Overcoming anxiety is a question of knowledge, not willpower or determination. When you know your situation, know who the real enemy is, and know your ability to persevere, then your anxiety will no longer control you.

The truth is, many of us don't know what anxiety really is. Anxiety is not simply a feeling of being overwhelmed by some task or possibility. Neither is it simply a feeling in the back of the head that some unknown event is lurking around the corner. These descriptions are simply how anxiety manifests itself. But something underneath is going on.

Anxiety occurs when you do not feel like you have control over your situation - whether over a relationship, your work, a responsibility, or the direction of your future. In our day to day living, our subconscious minds are constantly calculating what is possible with every decision we make or situation we face. When we are uncertain of a result from our decision-making, or if we feel our direct situation is beyond our control, we feel a little bit of anxiety.

Anxiety itself is very natural and actually serves as a warning signal to your consciousness that not everything is under control - that you should be alert and paying attention to make sure nothing goes wrong. It's kind of like a security alarm that beeps whenever a door or window is open. It beeps more intensely for the certain doors or windows (e.g. the front door) and less intensely for less concerning doors or windows (e.g. the attic window).

The reason why anxiety is a problem is that our lives have become so complicated and we have become responsible for so many things, big and small. You have to be a loving parent, a supportive partner, a caring friend, a hard-working employee, an inspiring leader, a hobbyist, a manager of a household, your own personal accountant, and so on.

Our minds do not have the capacity to keep track of all the things that could go wrong, so it generalizes all these responsibilities together. The more things you are responsible for, big or small, the more anxiety you will feel.

This is the equivalent of the security alarm mentioned above beeping 24-7, because of all the open "doors and windows" (i.e. on-going tasks and responsibilities) you have to manage in your life. The alarm may not be loud, but if it's going on all day, then it will eventually have an effect on you.

This anxiety is low-grade, meaning it lurks in the background. But it can come out more pronounced in specific, uncertain situations. For example, it's normal to be anxious about giving a presentation in front of other people. But a lot of low-grade anxiety will make your anxiety for your upcoming presentation on Monday morning feel even more intense.

In short, anxiety is so powerful and so prevalent because we, in our modern lifestyle, have opened ourselves up to being overcome by it. We've allowed ourselves to take on more and more responsibilities and tasks than our minds can handle effectively. This keeps us divided with ourselves, expending our precious time and energy putting out fires here and there without ever feeling calm and at peace.

As you can see, anxiety is not our real enemy. Anxiety can be very healthy in keeping us alert to potential dangers we face. Anxiety that pertains to a specific situation (e.g. a presentation, a competition) can actually be very helpful because it spurs us to be cautious and thoughtful in our plans.

Our real enemy is not anxiety itself, but our lack of control over our responsibilities and commitments. This lack of control makes us vulnerable to anxiety's effects on us. We've become weakened in our ability to handle uncertainty, because it adds one more fire to the mix.

Understanding this distinction is key to overcoming anxiety on a day-to-day basis.

Lesson 3: Elevate and simplify
Now that understand who our real enemy is - not anxiety, but our lack of skill in managing our responsibilities - we can develop a strategy for overcoming this enemy.

As Sun Tzu tells us, "A skilled military operation cultivates the Way and preserves the Methods." What he means by this is that a skilled general continually communicates the army's purpose and follows the appropriate military principles.

When it comes to anxiety, if our problem is that we are divided and unfocused in the number of commitments we decide to take on, leaving us vulnerable to feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, our strategy will be to reduce our number of commitments. This reduces the number of "doors and windows" that can cause our alarm (anxiety) to sound.

To reduce our number of commitments, we can't simply start cutting things off. Rather, we have to elevate our perspective. We have to think about what is important to us and what falls outside of that. We have to think of our purpose - what Sun Tzu calls the Way.

Understanding our purpose - our values, our priorities, our key responsibilities, our mission - shows us the way to distinguishing what we should commit ourselves to and what we shouldn't. If we feel our sense of purpose is to raise confident and supported children, to be healthy and fit, and to lead your business team to be successful, then any commitment outside of these should be put into question.

Using this perspective, you can start reducing your commitments. Ask yourself:

1. What is my purpose? What are my values, priorities, and key responsibilities?
2. What are all the things I am currently committed to or responsible for?
3. Based on my purpose, which responsibilities and commitments I can  eliminate? Which can I reduce my time doing? Which can I phase out?

In continually eliminating extraneous responsibilities and commitments, you are closing and locking these doors and windows. This makes it easier to deal with the important responsibilities that should be taking up your time and deserve your attention.

Lesson 4: Adopt the mindset of an invader
It is not enough simply to reduce our responsibilities and commitments. We must continually guard ourselves from adding on responsibilities that do not serve our overall purpose.

Doing this involves adopting the mindset of the invader. As Sun Tzu says, "In general, this is the Way of invading: if you enter deep [into enemy territory], you are united. The enemy will not be able to subdue you."

Surrounded by the enemy, your army will be focused, alert, and united.

This is the mindset you need to adopt: the world is constantly conspiring to get you to tend to more and more of its responsibilities and needs. People want your attention. Politicians want your votes and money. Coworkers want your time and effort.

You must constantly be alert to the fact that people want to drive you away from your purpose to fulfill their own needs and agendas. And that you, deep down, want to be helpful and supportive.

You must resist this. You must keep your focus. You must see yourself, with your purpose, as an invader in enemy territory. You have a mission to accomplish, a purpose to fulfill in the world. And you won't let anyone distract you from that.

In adopting this mindset and keeping firm to it, you will be channeling your anxiety towards a higher goal: cultivating your purpose.

Staying focused in this way, not only will you be able to conquer your anxiety, but, as Sun Tzu says, the world will be unable to subdue you.

For Sun Tzu, there are five roles that are crucial to the army's success:

1. The ruler, who must unite the people with common purpose and who gives orders to the general.
2. The general, who provides security to the nation by commanding the army.
3. The officers, who distribute the general's commands and manage the soldiers.
4. The soldiers, who execute the general's commands (via the officers), including fighting the enemy.
5. The informers (i.e. spies and guides), who provide critical information about the army's situation (Heaven, Ground, and enemy) to the general.

Weakness in any of these five roles dooms the army to failure. Without a strong ruler, for instance, the people, including the army, will not be united or supportive. Without a capable general, the nation will not be secure. Without effective officers, the soldiers will be confused and distrustful. Without trained and committed soldiers, the army's objectives will not be achieved. And without daring and credible informers, the army will be operating in complete darkness, guessing and groping at the path forward.

To be successful and to overcome challenges in your own life, you too must take on each of these roles:

1. As ruler, you need to understand your purpose - your values, aspirations, mission.
2. As general, you need to protect your interests (economic, professional, spiritual) and evaluate your options.
3. As officer, you need to implement effective methods (systems, techniques, practices) for executing results and ensure you're sticking to them.
4. As soldier, you need to commit to your plans, trusting them to guide you.
5. Lastly, as an informer, you need to listen to changes in your situation and be honest with yourself.

​Like the army, weakness in any of these roles will likely lead to failure. Without clear purpose, you'll be easily distracted by the next shiny thing that promises you success. Without clear leadership, you'll fail to act when there's a threat to your position or status. Without clear, effective methods, you'll waste resources and lose motivation. Without a strong commitment, you'll quit when things get hard. And without honest information, you'll just be guessing at what the next move should be, not knowing when to keep going, change plans, or quit.

While playing each of these roles might seem overwhelming, it's better to think of them as constant values to keep in mind:

1. For rulers, the value is purpose.
2. For general, the value is protection.
3. For officers, the value is effectiveness.
4. For soldiers, the value is commitment.
5. For informers, the value is honesty.

​Keep these values always in mind and you'll steer in the right direction.

A core value is an ideal quality one strives to prioritize, achieve, and maintain in one's way (Tao) of doing things.

Having read The Art of War for over twenty years, I've come to realize that there are three values that serve as the core of the Sun Tzu Way. These are values that the skilled warriors (shan zhan zhe) of the past upheld in conducting warfare and what allowed them to achieve success on the battlefield.

These values are 

1. Clarity (ming). Prioritize knowledge and understanding in whatever situation you face.
2. Readiness (dài). Evaluate your methods and continually improve them for the life you want.
3. Wholeness (quan). Strive to succeed at minimal cost to yourself or others.

These three values come up consistently in the text and, in my experience at least, can be prioritized in almost any situation to improve one's life. Personally, I try to uphold these values in any major decisions I make - whether it's personal finance, investing, career, or skill development.

Let's go into a little more detail with each value.

CLARITY
"Know the self, know the other, and victory will not be in danger. Know the Heaven, know the Ground, and victory will be complete."
- Sun Tzu

A constant theme in The Art of War is that knowledge - not willpower or size or bravery - is the key to success on the battlefield. The general who achieves total victory (quan sheng) is the one who understands his situation better - who knows the enemy, his army, the climate, and the ground.

For this reason, the skillful general is always trying to develop a clear (ming) understanding of what's going on. He uses spies to gather intelligence on the enemy's situation. He uses local guides to help him understand the various battlefields. He observes the enemy's behavior to discern his condition. He keeps watch over his troops to determine their attitude and morale.

He takes all this information and analyzes it to get a clear picture of his situation. Then he decides a course of action.

To be a skilled warrior of life, you must prioritize the same thinking. We live in a society that emphasizes action and persistence as key values. However, how smoothly life goes for you often depends on how well you understand your situation. You must listen to others, hear and consider their perspectives. You must learn to ask questions and take nothing for granted. You must do your research.

What you are after is clarity. Your aim is always to shine light on your situation before taking any deliberate action.

READINESS
"Do not rely on the enemy not coming. Rely on our ability to await him. Do not rely on the enemy not attacking. Rely on our having a place which cannot be attacked."
- Sun Tzu

For Sun Tzu, continual success on the battlefield is not a matter of luck or fate. Rather, it is a matter of preparation. The winning army is always prepared to deal with anything that comes its way - whether danger or opportunity. It is always ready to respond at a moment's notice.

Such readiness does not come from how intelligent or capable one is. Rather, it comes having the proper methods (systems, training, principles, tactics) in place and utilizing them to deal with changing circumstances, anticipate the potential dangers, and capitalize on the enemy's mistakes or weaknesses.

Likewise, in your own life, your ability to tackle the challenges you face in life doesn't depend on how smart or confident or well-connected you are. Rather, it depends on your state of readiness. It depends on the quality of your own methods - your own systems, habits, principles, and techniques - to deal with the issue at hand.

Look at your systems, your habits, the rules or guidelines you follow, your skills. Evaluate whether they are effective at helping you deal with the challenges or struggles you face everyday, or if they are just a part of the problem.

Put time and effort developing effective methods. With these methods in place, you'll be ready to face any challenge that comes your way.

WHOLENESS
"It is by keeping intact that one contends for All-Under-Heaven. Thus, the army will not be stopped, and its gains will be intact."
- Sun Tzu

For Sun Tzu, the highest excellence in warfare does not come from winning numerous battles. Rather, it comes from knowing how to subdue the enemy without fighting. In other words, Sun Tzu values wholeness - that is, keeping the army and the enemy intact (quan).

At heart, Sun Tzu takes an economic view of warfare. Warfare is destructive by nature. It destroys lives, morale, weapons, nations. Thus, what is gained by conducting warfare should and must outweigh the costs of going to war. The goal for Sun Tzu is not to win, but to make winning pay. This involves minimizing the destruction and maximizing the gains.

This view of war makes up the essence of The Art of War. It is the whole reason why Sun Tzu wrote the text. Thus, value of wholeness makes up the core of Sun Tzu's philosophy. It is what every skilled warrior should strive to attain when conducting war.

As Sun Tzu advises us, wholeness in warfare is achieved through mastery of deception, positioning, and momentum. The skillful general defeats the enemy not through brute strength or ferocious warriors, but through concealing his army's situation from the enemy, avoiding unnecessary engagements, building up a strong offensive position, and striking when and where the enemy is least prepared. This is the way (Tao) of total victory (quan sheng) for Sun Tzu.

In your own life, the same concept applies. Every struggle you face bears a cost. Every endeavor you take on involves risk. Every responsibility requires sacrifice. Assume too many risks, fight too many battles, take on too many responsibilities, and you can find yourself exhausted, overwhelmed, and in a bad situation.

The path to success in life comes from understanding which battles are worth fighting, which endeavors are worth pursuing, and which responsibilities are worth taking on. It involves concealing your intentions and plans, avoiding unnecessary arguments or struggles, building up your skills and resources, and moving quickly to jump on opportunities to move forward.

This is how you make success pay and live a life of calm and security (an).
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In short, these three values make up the core of the Sun Tzu Way. Taken together, they make up the essence of Sun Tzu's philosophy. In incorporating these values into your own life, ask yourself:

1. What must I do to get a clearer understanding of my situation?
2. How can I be more prepared - that is, more protected and ready?
3. How can I 'keep whole' - that is, how can I minimize the costs and maximize the gains for all involved?

Ask yourself these questions in every meaningful situation you face, and you’ll gradually begin to create wonders in your life.

"What enables the enlightened rulers and good generals to conquer the enemy at every move and achieve extraordinary success is foreknowledge."
- Sun Tzu

We are taught today that success is a matter of willpower – of persistence, of grit, of continuing when failing.

For Sun Tzu, however, the most critical factor in your success is the quality of your information. The more you know about the area you’re trying to win in, the more aware you are of the opportunities – the strengths to avoid, the weaknesses to exploit, the options for mobility.

Want to land that new job? Research the company! Find out who their distributors and competitors are, their unique advantage, markets they are trying to break into.

Want to date that girl? Find out what her interests are. What does she like to do for fun? Which countries has she traveled to? What TV shows does she like?

Want to start a business? Find out as much as you can about your customers. What quality of product do they want? What inside jokes do they use? What’s going to make them talk about your new product?

Want to invest in a company? Find out as much as you can from their financial statements, their management, their competitive advantage.

Intelligence marks the critical difference between playing to compete and playing to win. You can be confident, persistent, charming all you want, but those qualities just help you to compete.

​To win, you need to know where, when, and how to make moves. That requires intelligence.

“In this way, the skilled warrior stands on undefeated ground, and does not miss the enemy's defeat. Therefore, the winning army first wins, and later seeks to do battle. The defeated army first battles, and later seeks to win.”
– Sun Tzu

This is one of the most important quotes from Sun Tzu that I can recommend. So many times, we think only about competing. About taking action, about starting, about moving forward.

But probably one of the most important questions you can ask yourself before starting an endeavor is: What are the conditions that would lead to success? 

For example, let’s say you are a singer-songwriter and you want to create a popular, high-selling album.

You could start by just writing songs and building an album from there. But that is just taking action. It doesn’t at all guarantee that you’ll have a popular, high-selling album.

Instead, you have to ask yourself: “What conditions will lead to a successful album?”

One condition is an audience – a large group of people who would be interested in buying what you have to sell. Another condition is promotion, in particular, word of mouth. Another condition is a place – a store, a website – to sell your album.

As a strategy, then, one thing you can do is to start by building an audience. You can start creating little videos of songs you can sing to get people interested.

Then, as you start building an audience, you can start writing little songs of your own. See which songs get the most interest, use feedback to improve the songs, and then put an improved version of that song on the album.

Next, find a place where you can sell your album, preferably somewhere that makes sampling and buying the album easy and gives you a good royalty.

Lastly, develop a promotional strategy. With your audience, think about what concept or idea will make your audience not only be interested in buying your album, but in sharing it with other people.

Once you have these conditions in place, then you can start developing the album, getting album artwork, doing press releases, booking shows, and more heavily promoting the album.

This is, of course, an overly simplified strategy, but hopefully the point is clear: find out what conditions need to be in your favor in order to win, and then seek to obtain those conditions first. Then you can take direct action towards winning.